WoodTECH News | Issue 45

Welcome to the latest issue of WoodTECH.News.

Biofuel announcements on both sides of the Tasman continue to pop up – almost daily now. Better utilisation of forest residues has moved from highlighting opportunities in harvesting, transporting and drying some of these residues from logging operations to now major investments in new heat plant by industrial-scale operations.

In this month’s issue we cover the installation of a new biomass boiler from a mill in South Australia, the announced NZ$ 47.8 million sale of New Zealand’s largest wood pellets operation by Norske Skog and a call by Genesis Energy in NZ for converting part of the Huntly power station to run on biofuel (using a specialist wood fuel, steam-exploded wood pellets).

For the Genesis proposal, they’re pushing for a scaling up of biofuels supply from forestry and wood processing operations to drive the switch from fossil fuels like coal. Collaboration by forestry and wood processing companies to meet the growing demand for biomass will be featured in the eagerly awaited Wood Residues 2022 event which runs on 26-27 July in Rotorua, New Zealand. If interested, full details including both the programme and registration information can be found on woodresidues.events.

And other stories this month include; the start of the construction of Timberlink’s AU$63 million NeXTimber facility in South Australia, an article on the saw-shop upgrade by OneFortyOne and the announced partnership between the Hyne Group and the UK-based James Jones & Sons, a company recognised as one of the most innovative and efficient timber producers in Europe and owning seven mills across the UK.

Check out these stories and much more below. Enjoy this month’s issue.